The Speech

The speech is one form of a situational composition. Presentation of a speech is done in a formal way.
The speech is always given to an audience at a meeting or a rally. The person -giving a speech always
holds a certain capacity. He or she can be the chairperson, or a member of the audience. For speech
writing always have a title and then use GASP for the introduction that is greetings acknowledgement
self introduction and then purpose for your speech. Eg Good morning the Head, teachers ladies and
gentlemen. It is a pleasure to talk to you about the need for a tuckshop at our school. Always remember,
a speech is meant to be addressed before a live audience so the language must also be appropriate for
an audience and can also be conversational!

1. In what capacity are you giving the speech? Are you the chairperson or you are a member of the
audience?

2. Whom are you addressing? Are you addressing an honourable official or the public audience?

3. Be respectful and begin by using titles of honour and respect e.g. Mr. Chairman, Secretary, Ladies
and gentleman, comrades and friends.

4. Follow the protocols of the audience.

5. Express your pleasure to have the opportunity to speak.

6. Allude to what they already know and proceed to give your own views.

7. End with closing remarks persuading them to consider your opinions.

8. Express a vote of thanks at the end.

Procedure of Presentation

Observe titles of etiquette or titles. • Be respectful Follow the protocols i.e. the line of authority and
status. Usually you start by addressing the most important person at that meeting going downwards to
the lowest. • Express your pleasure to be given the opportunity to speak. Allude to what they already
know and proceed to give your own views. End the speech with closing remarks persuading them to
consider your opinions express your vote of thanks at the end of your speech.

ZIMSEC English Language Speech writing

As part of your Ordinary Level English Examination you might be asked to write a speech. Speech
questions are found in Paper 1 Section B where they are part of a range of possible questions that may
be set by the examiners. Its a list that includes formal letters, newspaper/magazine articles, personal
letters and reports. The question is as likely to ask you to write a speech as it would any of these guided
essay formats and it is always best to be prepared to tackle any format instead of only focusing your
exam preparation on only a select few formats-a practice some students call “spotting.”

I say this because speeches are perhaps one of the most neglected guided composition formats and
while there is always a good chance the exam question you will face will ask you to write something
else, there is still a chance of the examiners asking you to write a speech and the result will be nothing
short of disastrous if you were not fully prepared for this.

When you are asked to write speeches you should bear the following things in mind:
Speeches differ slightly with the other guided essays that you will be asked to write. Speeches are made
to inform, share, support/persuade your audience on the topic set out in the examination question.

You should write in a conversational style i.e. you should write the same way you speak. Imagine
yourself in front of the given audience. Usually the question itself sets out the audience you are
supposed to be facing for example a graduation speech would have you facing your fellow graduating
students in perhaps the school hall/during assembly imagine what you would say to them.

Start and end with opening quotes either double quotations ” ” or single ‘ ‘quotations can be used at the
beginning and last paragraph of the speech. It is always good practice to use these alternatively if they
are nested. For example let us say you chose the double quotes to open your speech and somewhere in
the speech you decide to include a relevant quotation by some famous author, it is good practice to use
the single quotes to set out the exact words of that author in the speech instead of using the double
quotes again. The converse would be true if you had begun by using single quotes.

Start by greeting your audience. The degree of formality and tone of the speech depends on your
relationship with the audience and the topic of the speech. For example you could either start by
saying,” Good morning to you my fellow students…” or “Good morning ladies and gentlemen…”

Depending on the situation the greeting may be followed by a self introduction even if you have already
been introduced and the audience knows you. This maybe in the form of an allusion to your standing on
the matter at hand for example “As your head girl …”

You might want to remind your student of the occasion. This can be done subtly for example,” I cannot
believe this is our graduation day, it only seems only like yesterday when we started out as little tiny
form ones.”

You should always state the purpose of your speech. The intend clause should fall naturally into place of
your speech. This can be done by making sure that it matches the style of your entire speech. The
purpose of the speech is usually given out in the question itself and even when it is not given you can
always surmise from the points given in the speech. You could say for example,” As we march out into
the wide and cruel world, I stand here as your sage, to impart words of parting wisdom.”
Speeches are written in the way that they are spoken which means a lot of the verbs are in the “-ing”
format for example ” speaking” instead of “spoke” which would be more likely in say a narrative
compositions. Also sentences may not follow the traditional structure.

In informal speeches you can also make use of speech fillers like “Eerr…” and “Ummm..” although this
should be done very sparingly.

Here is an example of a speech. Question:

Your community is worried about a number of things at their primary school. Among other things, there
hasn’t been any development at the school for the past years; there are no qualified teachers and
results are poor. It is believed ’that the poor accommodation is scaring away teachers and indiscipline at
school is rampant. There are also several cases of theft in the school.

Your community meets at the school to discuss the problems affecting the school and to suggest the
way forward. Write a speech you would make at the meeting.

Answer:

A Speech

Mr. Chairman; Comrades, friends, ladies and gentleman, I have great pleasure to have ,this opportunity
to give my views at this meeting.
Mr. Chairman, I agree with the rest of the people that our school has not been developing for the past
three years. It is a fact that there hasn’t been any new structures at the school since’2001. It is also true
that our results for Grade 7 have not been so good. I also repeat what the former speakers mentioned
about the shortage of qualified teachers; text -books and proper houses for teachers. It is also true that
a lot of theft has occurred in the school. All these problems need our immediate attention to keep the
school going.

Mr. Chairman, may I suggest . that we itnmediately select a school- Development Committee that will
oversee matters of the physical development of the school. The committee should be chaired by a
Headman of reputable standing. Secondly may I suggest that the Headmaster be a local person who has
our community at heart, who can remain at the school all times. I also propose that the Headmaster
should look at ways of attracting qualified teachers. He should also be thorough on supervision of his
teachers. Discipline has to be monitored for both teachers and students. I believe that if these measures
are taken our results shall improve.

Mr. Chairman, I agree that the quality of houses for our teachers is deplorable. This is perhaps why we
cannot get qualified teachers. May I suggest that all parents pay a levy fee, which shall be used to
upgrade and renovate all the teachers houses. Coming to the issue of theft, Mr. Chairman, may I suggest
we create a Neighbourhood Watch Committee that would look after the school, especially in the nighteI
also suggest that all school doors and windows should be fitted with burglarbars. I believe that these
measures will go a long way towards solving the problem.

Mr. Chairman, Comrades and friends, may I again express my thanks for the opportunity to speak out
my views at this meeting. I hope that you will consider these views for the good of our school.

Thank you.

Analysis of the Speech:

We observe that the speaker’ is only a member of the community (i.e. capacity). He begins by
addressing the chairman followed by the audience (i.e. etiquette). He then makes an outline of the
problems (i.e. what they know). After that he gives his views in a sincere manner (i.e. persuading them
to consider). The speaker frequently addresses the chairman each time he gives a new view. Finally the
speaker makes a plea that the Chairman and the audience consider his submissions. He closes by
expressing his gratitude for the opportunity to speak, which he had expressed at the very beginning.

Compiled by:

M Mlilo

Teacher of English Language

[9/20, 07:23] toxic: ZIMSEC English Language Notes: Writing an article

Articles are magazine and newspaper style essays. As part of your ZIMSEC English Language examination
you can be asked to write an article on a chosen topic in Section B of Paper 1. The given topics normally
require you to write an informative article for example you can be presented with a topic such as,
“Write an article for your school magazine titled,’Why my school is the best.'”

Whenever presented with such a topic you should take an approach that is not very different from the
one you should employ when dealing with argumentative essays although the “correct viewpoint” is this
instance is non-optional. For example you cannot choose to say write about why you think your school is
not the best.

You have to write supporting the topic and providing probably fictional information to expand and
develop the points given in the question for example if the question has points like: High Pass rate,
Recent successes in sport etc you might want to support the first point by saying you school has
consistently achieved a 100 % pass rate for the past 5 years and some of your students have received
national prizes due to their academic excellence. It does not have to be true, just reasonable, plausible
and in support of the given topic.

Format of an article

Headline/Title: Put title of article here. You could use the question as a guide e.g. Why St Faith’s
Secondary is the best school in Zimbabwe.

By/Author: Your Name here.

It is always a good thing to provide a summation of your whole approach to the topic. For example you
could begin by saying: Although generally ignored by most in the media probably due to it being located
far away from the capital, St Faith’s Secondary near Rusape is undoubtedly one of the most premier
learning institution in this country. In my eyes it is the best school there is.

Expand on the given points and fabricate sensible evidence to support them. Take care to arrange them
in logical or chronological order and paragraph them accordingly.

Give a sensible conclusion. A rephrase of the introduction will do in most instances. For example you
could end by saying: With all this evidence presented, it is hard to argue with the fact that St Faith’s
Secondary is the country’s best learning institution.

Other tips and things to note.

It is always a good idea to write short paragraphs when writing an article. Your paragraphs should be
about 2-5 lines in length.

No signature is required.

Avoid colloquialisms and cliches.

Always present your work in a logical manner.

Always provide plausible evidence and information when supporting and expanding the points given in
the essay question.

Avoid giving contradictory evidence.